aid, smiling, and evidently unwilling to leave
Rogojin in this state--"as to faith, I had four curious conversations
in two days, a week or so ago. One morning I met a man in the train, and
made acquaintance with him at once. I had often heard of him as a very
learned man, but an atheist; and I was very glad of the opportunity of
conversing with so eminent and clever a person. He doesn't believe in
God, and he talked a good deal about it, but all the while it appeared
to me that he was speaking OUTSIDE THE SUBJECT. And it has always struck
me, both in speaking to such men and in reading their books, that they
do not seem really to be touching on that at all, though on the surface
they may appear to do so. I told him this, but I dare say I did not
clearly express what I meant, for he could not understand me.

"That same evening I stopped at a small provincial hotel, and it so
happened that a dreadful murder had been committed there the night
before, and everybody was talking about it. Two peasants--elderly men
and old friends--had had tea together there the night before, and were
to occupy the same bedroom. They were not drunk but one of them had
noticed for the first time that his friend possessed a silver watch
which he was wearing on a chain. He was by no means a thief, and was, as
peasants go, a rich man; but this watch so fascinated him that he could
not restrain himself. He took a knife, and when his friend turned his
back, he came up softly behind, raised his eyes to heaven, crossed
himself, and saying earnestly--'God forgive me, for Christ's sake!' he
cut his friend's throat like a sheep, and took the watch."

Rogojin roared with laughter. He laughed as though he were in a sort of
fit. It was strange to see him laughing so after the sombre mood he had
been in just before.

"Oh, I like that! That beats anything!" he cried convulsively, panting
for breath. "One is an absolute unbeliever; the other is such a
thorough--going believer that he murders his friend to the tune of a
prayer! Oh, prince, prince, that's too good for anything! You can't have
invented it. It's the best thing I've heard!"

"Next morning I went out for a stroll through the town," continued the
prince, so soon as Rogojin was a little quieter, though his laughter
still burst out at intervals, "and soon observed a drunken-looking
soldier staggering about the pavement. He came up to me and said,
'Buy my silver cross, sir! You shall have it for fou